Is Your Mobile Wallet Catching the Eye of Consumers?

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Is Your Mobile Wallet Catching the Eye of Consumers?

By Danielle Brown - 12/27/2016

Mobile wallets can provide many added benefits, not limited to cutting down the stack of credit cards collecting in their wallets. Despite the convenience factor and other benefits, mobile payments have seen slow adoption, with only 27 percent of consumers indicating they have used Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay. Despite this slow adoption, mobile payments are on the upswing, with sales from mobile devices jumping 56 percent in 2015. As mobile payments grow, not only will giants like Apple and Samsung Pay pave the way for digital payment innovation, but more digital wallets will continue to pop up, begging for consumers’ attention and download.

With a diverse choice of mobile wallets, weighing the pros and cons of each one can be challenging to consumers. Here are several of the key features consumers are looking for when choosing a mobile wallet.

Engagement beyond payments

Consumers are looking for more ways to use their mobile wallets beyond the simplification of transactions. By integrating non-payments offerings, like linking loyalty cards, boarding passes, IDs, tickets and personalized alerts, retailers and digital wallet providers can create even more value by opening new doors for consumer engagement.

For example, say a consumer has several items in his or her online shopping cart for a particular retailer. To push the consumer to the points-of-sale, the retailer can send an alert when they are close to the physical store. This alert can let the consumer know the desired items are in stock and maybe even offer a discount. Additionally, once the payment is made, loyalty rewards can automatically be added to the customer’s account through the mobile wallet, making the entire shopping and earning process quick, convenient and seamless.

In a market where convenience often trumps brand loyalty, creating a seamless user experience is the only way to keep shoppers actually using the app. If your app is tough to navigate and time-consuming, there’s a chance users will delete it just as quick as they download it.

Loyalty and rewards capabilities

Loyalty programs are widely used by today’s consumers. In fact, the number of loyalty program memberships in the US has increased 26 percent from 2013 to 2015. An engaged audience that is increasingly adopting mobile wallets with loyalty program capabilities is millennials, as they want easy access to information and perks at their fingertips, rather than having to thumb through their wallet for a plastic loyalty card.

Millennials appreciate the convenience and ease of access to their loyalty programs, rewards and accounts provided through mobile wallets that incorporate loyalty, and are also using these channels to even further engage with the brands they love. A recent study found that 84 percent of millennials are more likely to use mobile payments if loyalty rewards and discounts are automatically applied. By offering a one-stop-shop for payments and loyalty, retailers and digital wallet providers can ensure millennials and other target customers increasingly turn to mobile wallets.

Loyalty and engagement are both paramount to continued mobile wallet adoption – and long-term customer relationships. It’s projected that by 2020, more than half of the U.S. population will give mobile wallets a try. As long as digital wallet providers and developers continue to focus on these features – and others demanded by consumers – the future of mobile wallets will be set up for success.